FSU Bands

With over 70 years of performances, the Fairmont State Bands are among the most visible performing ensembles on campus. Membership in the bands is open to students who play a band instrument or have the necessary skills to participate in one of the auxiliary units such as flags or rifles. The Marching Band performs at all home football games during the fall semester and at various marching band activities such as parades and festivals. The Wind Ensemble is open to all students who can play a band instrument. Students are presented with the opportunity to study and perform a wide variety of band literature. The Jazz Ensemble is open by audition to advanced instrumental students. It is designed to give students an opportunity to rehearse and perform big band jazz and jazz-rock literature under faculty direction. The Fairmont State Bands have traveled across the East Coast and as far south as Walt Disney World and Bermuda. In the spring of 2008, the band traveled to the Bahamas. They perform on tour every two years, and in the future, expect to return to Europe, Mexico and Australia/New Zealand. They have produced compact disc recordings in recent years and plan to record more in the future. Alumni who have participated in the band have gone on to have successful careers in music education as well as a variety of occupations all across the United States.

You could call the Town & Gown Players theatre trailblazers. When Fairmont State launched its summer theatre program in the summer of 1960, it was the first of its kind in West Virginia.

Jo Ann Lough and Lawrence Wallman of the Fairmont State (then College) Department of Speech and Dramatics led the launch of the Players that began with one production that year, the hit British comedy “The Reluctant Debutante,” directed by Lough.